Wizard of Oz
by aonalion
Summary: The Osiris Red dorm is suddenly swept away by a tornado and carried to the land of Oz! Will Judai be able to follow the yellow brick road and get back to Duel Academy with the help of his newfound friends? Spiritshipping, hints of others.
1. The tornado

**A/N:** Haha, okay. I got this idea after reading an amazing GX-fic called 'The Wonderland of Judai Yuki' by serina-phantom here on , go find it, it's awesome! (But not after reading mine...) Anyways, I wanted to do something similar and came up with the idea of The Wizard of Oz! I actually checked first, and yes, there are a few YGO styled WoO (that's the official abbreviation, now) but no GX ones! ;)

Also, it's mainly Spiritshipping, with hints of others. X3

* * *

"Come on Shou, let's go up to our rooms and get our decks so we can duel again!"

Shou looked up at the bouncing brunette with a frown. They were in the Osiris Red dining-room and even though it was getting late it was still filled with people eating and chattering.

"Judai, I haven't even finished eating yet." Shou said and waved slightly with his fork. Kenzan grinned from the other side of the table as Judai pouted and looked cranky. "Okay, fine! You go ahead and look through your deck or whatever, I'll just finish eating and then I'll come up too."

Judai whooped and ran off.

"Geez, he's always like this lately…" Shou murmured and shook his head. Kenzan chuckled.

* * *

As Judai got outside, a strong gust of wind caught him off guard and almost knocked him off his feet. He had to struggle to close the door again and then slowly walked up the stairs, practically dragging himself up using the rail. The wind shoved him from side to side, ruffling his hair and clothes and making his eyes sting.

When he got to his own room, the world was engulfed in blinding lightning and seconds later came the thunder, threatening to make him deaf. Judai managed to get inside and shut the door behind him, correcting his clothes and brushing through his hair to make it lie down again.

"Man, I hope the weather doesn't get worse… on the other hand, if it does, maybe school will be cancelled tomorrow!" he laughed to himself and went to get his deck. But before he managed to, the whole building seemed to tremble as lightning struck just outside the dorm. The thunder followed milliseconds later, the sound so loud it seemed to tear the world apart.

"Heh, okay…" Judai said and gulped. "I hope Shou gets back s−" He yelped and jumped high when lightning struck again; this time the thunder came almost at the exact same time, and this time the building definitely shook. Judai struggled to regain his balance and looked around in the tiny room with panic written over his face. "Okay, this isn't fun anymore, I−"

But then lightning strike for the fourth time and the whole house shook violently. Judai lost his balance, smacked his head into the bed, and lost consciousness.

* * *

Judai frowned and moaned slightly but didn't open his eyes. Bright light was hitting him in the face, making him feel warm even though he was lying in a weird position. One of his legs was bent under him and that foot was probably asleep – he couldn't feel it at all. He had something hard pressed into his back and shifted slightly to get off it, but without luck.

He opened his eyes and was immediately blinded by the sunlight shining in through the window. He grunted and sat up, shadowing his eyes with his hand and straightening out his leg. When he tried to move his foot it felt as if a thousand needles were piercing it, so he stopped and looked behind him instead.

It was a piece of wood which had been pressed into his back, and it was only now Judai realized his dorm-room was in shreds. The desk and bed were broken, nothing but shards of wood and nails and, in the case of the bed, torn sheets and pillows. The curtains had fallen down and lay on the floor, the door hanging askew and sunlight shining in there as well.

"Oh God…" Judai murmured as he tried to stand up; his head pounding painfully. He removed his hand from his head and looked at it − at least he wasn't bleeding. Then he realized something. "Shou!" he shouted, ignoring the jolts of pain running through his head. "Shou, Kenzan! Asuka…? Is there anyone here?"

"Kuri, kuriii!" a familiar voice said and Judai jerked his head around, another flash of pain searing through him. Winged Kuriboh was flying close to the remains of his bed, looking at him with those big, brown eyes.

"Partner! What are you doing here?" Judai said and held out his arms towards Kuriboh, who came flying, obviously smiling. "Wait, can I… touch you?" Judai blinked in shock as Kuriboh flew straight up to him and into his arms, nuzzling against his chest.

"Kuri, kuriii." Kuriboh purred in a muffled voice.

"That's so cool! Anyway, you haven't seen Shou or Kenzan around here, have you?"

"Kuri!"

Winged Kuriboh flew away from Judai again, heading for the open door and the sunlight.

"Hey wait, not so fast!" Judai shouted and linked after his partner, his foot still asleep and his head pounding. He leaned against the wall for support and squinted his eyes towards the bright light, unable to see what it looked like outside.

Judai took the final step through the door and blinked, letting his eyes get used to the sun. What he then saw made him gasp and stumble backwards slightly, leaning against the wall for support again.

This was _not_ the place he had been at yesterday night; he didn't even know if he was still in the same world anymore. A field of flowers stretched out before him, and far away in the distance was a huge forest, and even further away, mountains. Judai slowly walked to the fence, just to have something to hold on to. When he looked to his left he saw a town close by, the houses painted in bright colors, but they all seemed oddly small. Smoke rose from the chimneys and he could hear upset voices coming from the town.

"We're so not at Duel Academy anymore, Kuriboh." Judai said, his voice nothing more than a whisper.

"Kuri." Kuriboh said cheerfully.

Then Judai noticed a small group of people walking over to the dorm, all of them dressed in bright green and yellow and red, but he couldn't make out their features yet. They were walking on a yellow brick road which led from the village, beyond the dorm and far off into the direction of the forest and the mountains. He blinked and looked down as something bumped into his shoulder.

"Kuriii…" Kuriboh said and looked up at him.

"Alright, alright, I'll follow you." Judai said and forced himself to smile towards his small friend. Kuriboh flew down the stairs to the ground and waited there for him while Judai linked after him with small grunts of pain.

As Judai got down on the ground the small group of people finally got in range. Judai couldn't help but stare: they were so small! They weren't higher than up to his waist, but other than that they looked like normal people − and they all seemed strangely familiar, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. They were arguing amongst themselves as they approached Judai, but the one walking at the front of the group held up his hand to silence the others. He had mainly red clothes, dark skin and dark hair in an odd haircut.

"Oh great and powerful stranger, may we know your name so we can worship you as our ruler?" he said, his voice extremely high-pitched.

Judai blinked.

"Eh, my name is Judai Yuki, but… why would you worship me as your ruler?"

"Because you destroyed the Wicked Witch of the East who used to rule over us with terror and the horrible Light of Destruction!" another person said with an equally high-pitched voice, this one dressed in green with a cowboy hat and bandages over one eye. "Now we're free!"

"Wait, what was that thing you sai−" Judai began but was soon interrupted.

"Do not speak to the Great and Powerful Judai Yuki!" the one in red shouted at the one in green.

"But he _did_!" a person dressed in yellow said; he had tanned skin, long dreadlocks and a bandana on his head. He took the green one's hand. "Look!" he pointed with his free hand.

Judai turned his head and saw how the entire Osiris dorm had seemed to have landed on top of the flower field, the blossoms crushed under the weight. Then he noticed a pair of legs dressed in oddly familiar dark blue boots sticking out from underneath the house.

"Holy cra−!" Judai said with huge eyes and grabbed his own head in panic. "Why are you just standing there, we have to help him…!" he tried to make a run for the person, but the man in green and the man in red tackled him, tripping him to the ground. Judai propped himself up on his elbows and rubbed his already hurting head. "What are you doing, we have to help him!"

"Oh, but Great and Powerful Judai Yuki, the one under the house is purely Wicked!" the one in red said and brushed himself off. "Plus he's already dead."

Judai stared at him in disbelief, but the red one didn't notice; he was looking at the sky in awe, the others pointing and cheering. Judai looked up and saw what appeared to be a comet heading their way.

"Uh, guys…?" he said, staring at the comet. "W-we should probably−"

But the comet was already here, and with cheers from the small people and a large 'WHOOOSH' from the fireball, it landed on the brick road right on front of them, but oddly enough without harming any of them of even burning the ground. The flames disappeared and instead, a beautiful woman stood there. She had long black hair, slightly light blue skin and bright green eyes. She was wearing a beautiful red, Victorian style dress and a small diadem in gold.

"Burst Lady…?" Judai asked with wide eyes, but then he looked away with a bitter smile on his face. "I must've whacked my head harder than I thought."

"No, no, child. I am the Witch of the North." she smiled warmly.

"The _Good_ Witch of the North!" the one in red said and looked up at her with admiration in his eyes.

"Yes, the Good Witch of the North." she smiled towards the red one, which made him blush and fiddle with his clothes. "Now tell me, how are my Munchkins doing?"

"Very good, ma'am. Indeed very good!" the one in green said.

"Very good indeed!" the one on yellow agreed and squeezed the green Munchkin's hand. "The Great and Powerful Judai Yuki has destroyed the Wicked Witch of the East and freed us!"

"I didn't mean to! The dorm just landed on top of…! Look, okay…" Judai took a deep breath and pulled himself up, his head pounding painfully as he stood up. "Have you seen… a guy? He looks like me, but he's got blue hair and glasses. And a pretty girl and a dinosaur freak."

"I do not know anyone of that description." the Good Witch said. "Have you lost them?"

"Yes, and I want to go home. Or wake up. Either one." Judai said, pouted, and then added: "Both."

"Well then, where do you live?" the Witch asked and looked concerned.

"I live here…!" Judai said and swept out with his arms towards the demolished Osiris Red dorm. "Or I used to…Okay, I live at Duel Academy, do you know where that is? How I can get there?"

"No, sweetie. But do you know _who_ knows?"

"The Wonderful Wizard of Oz!" all of them Munchkins said at the same time. Judai twitched slightly and stared at them.

"Yes, the Wonderful Wizard of Oz!" the Witch said and smiled brightly. "If you ask him really nice, I know he will help you get home."

"Alright, well, where is he?" Judai said and rubbed his forehead, feeling the pain subside but a head ache building up instead. "I really want to go home now."

"He resides in the Emerald City. Just follow the yellow brick road and you should get there easily."

"Follow the yellow brick road…? Judai wondered, looked around and then looked down. "That way?" he pointed in the opposite direction of the village; towards the distant forest.

"Yes, follow the yellow brick road in that direction to get to the Emerald City where the Wonderful Wizard of Oz lives, he will help you get home."

"Well, alright then. Bye and thanks!" Judai said and started wandering off with Winged Kuriboh flying by his side.

"Wait, child!" the Good Witch called him back. "Since you destroyed the Wicked Witch of the East, you will inherit a part of his magic. Here, take this." she pulled out an Osiris Red jacket from out of nowhere and held it out for Judai to take. It was only now Judai realized he wasn't wearing his own. "It will help you on your way, so take good care of it."

"Thanks again." Judai said, put the jacket on and turned around − and started walking down the yellow brick road.

* * *

**A/N:** God, I didn't mean for the first chapter to be so damn long! The rest are shorter, promise!

Anyway, review to make me happy~!


	2. The Scarecrow

**A/N:** Told you the next chapter was going to be shorter :3

Speaking of which, there's a poll on my page which you all need to go vote on **RIGHT NOW**; it's about weather you want shorter chapters with sooner updates or longer chapters and updates like, once a week. Just so I know, because either one is fine for me C:

* * *

Judai had been walking for the better part of an hour; his head ache was starting to disappear but instead he was getting hungrier and hungrier by the minute. At least Winged Kuriboh was there to keep him company, flying by his side and nudging him on when he stopped to take a break. After a while, Judai started whistling to keep his spirit up, and Kuriboh joined in, humming in a low voice.

They had left the field of flowers and were walking through a corncob field instead; he couldn't see the forest in front of him anymore since the plants blocked the view. The yellow brick road he was walking on seemed as if it was completely new; it looked as if no one had walked on it before him.

Just as Judai started to get seriously hungry, he came to an intersection where the brick road split in two; one of the paths seemed to lead to blue mountains far off in the distance, while the other led to the forest, which was barely visible through the corncob field. There were no signs whatsoever, and Judai looked around before turning to Kuriboh.

"Do you know where to go, partner?"

"You could go this way." a voice said.

Judai jumped and looked around, but saw no one.

"Was that you, Kurib−"

"Or you could go that way." the voice said again.

Judai spun around and managed to locate the source of the voice.

"Misawa! What are you doing here? You have no idea how glad I am to see you…!" Judai started walking towards him, but then he realized something and stopped. Misawa was hanging on a wooden pole sitting a bit away from the road, in the middle of the corncob plants; his clothes torn and tattered and filled with hay. He had a big, dirty hat and several crows sat on his shoulders and head. "What are you doing up there?"

"I am not this Misawa you speak of." he said, but seemed unhappy. "I am the Scarecrow, but as you can see, I am not very efficient." he shrugged and the crows cawed but didn't fly away.

"Of course you're Misawa, I know yo−"

"I am not Misawa!" the Scarecrow said in a loud voice, making the crows stir again.

"Alright, fine. Scarecrow, I'm Judai Yuki. Now, what are you doing up there?"

"Why, I am a scarecrow! It is my job to scare the crows and protect the corncobs!"

"And that's not quite working out, is it?" Judai said and crossed his arms. He took a few steps towards the scarecrow, but remained on the yellow brick road.

"No." the Scarecrow said in a sad voice. "I wish I had a brain. If I did, I probably would've known how to scare the crows."

"Wait, you're saying… you don't have a _brain_?"

"That's right, my young fellow, but there's not much I can do about it. Now, where are you heading?"

"I'm going to see the Wonderful Wizard of Oz in the Emerald City. He'll help me get home." Judai pondered for a moment and then brightened up. "Hey, I know! You can follow me to the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, maybe he can get you a brain! Or at least some good tips on how to scare crows."

The Scarecrow looked surprised but smiled at the same time; the crows sitting on his shoulder started to caw expectantly and flapped their wings.

"Do you really think he could do that…?" he sounded amazed.

"Yeah, sure. If he can get me home from this crazy place, I'm sure he can give you a brain."

"Whoop-de-doo!" the Scarecrow shouted, and this time the crows actually flew off, but landed on the ground below him instead. "Well then, young man, could you give me a hand so I can get down from here and follow you on your journey to the Wonderful Wizard of Oz?"

Judai shrugged and walked over to the pole he was hanging from. As he approached, the crows jumped out of his way but still stayed close. He walked around the pole and the Scarecrow to figure out how he was going to get him down, but realized something.

"Uh, this pole goes up your back… I'm not sure how to get you down without hurting you."

"Oh, don't worry about that, my young fellow! Since I have no brain, I cannot feel pain!" he chuckled to himself as he realized it rhymed. "Just you grab me by the ankles and pull me down."

"If you say so…" Judai grabbed the Scarecrow's feet and pulled with all his might. With a loud ripping noise and a surprised shout, the Scarecrow fell down and almost landed on top of Judai, who jumped out of the way just in time. He bent down and picked up the Scarecrow's hat − which had fallen off − and placed it on his head just as he managed to stand up.

"Alright then." the Scarecrow said and turned around, trying to look at his own back. When Judai dared to take a glance at the damage he'd done he saw that the Scarecrow's jacket had split in two up the seam on his back, hay sticking out everywhere.

"Oh shi−" Judai slapped his hands over his face. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't worry! I'm perfectly fine." the Scarecrow said and brushed himself off. Judai coughed as he accidentally inhaled some dust. "Now, let's go meet the Wonderful Wizard of Oz!"

They walked back on the yellow brick road again, but before they continued, the Scarecrow turned around to look at his old pole for a final time. The crows had flown up again and sat on it, apparently completely uninterested by what just happened.

"Farewell, my pole! Farewell, my crows! You behave now…!" he waved at them, but they didn't even look his way.

"Uh, so… you know which way to go?" Judai wondered and waved his hand in front of the Scarecrow's face to get his attention.

"Ah yes, of course. The Emerald City is this way, my lad!" and with that, he started walking down the yellow brick road in the direction of the forest without waiting for Judai.

Judai had to run a bit to catch up, but then walked next to the Scarecrow with a careful smile on his face. Both Kuriboh and the Scarecrow were humming on something which sounded suspiciously a lot like "We're off to see the Wizard, the Wonderful Wizard of Oz…"

Judai sighed and hoped he would wake up soon.

* * *

**A/N:** lol, just btw: can you guess who the Wicked Witch of the East was? And who the rest of the gang will be? ;)


	3. The Tin Woodman

**A/N:** Heh, this chapter may be a wee bit too short ^^" Sorry 'bout that. Hey, you wanted short chapters!

* * *

Just before the forest, on each side of the yellow brick road, several old and crooked apple trees stood. They were filled with big, red and inviting apples.

"Food!" Judai yelled and dashed for the trees. He picked up a couple of apples from the ground and took a bite out of one of them. "Don't you want some?" he asked the Scarecrow, who still stood at the road, at held out an apple for him.

"No thank you, my young fellow. I'm quite fine without food."

"Well, suit yourself." Judai said and continued munching down apples. Then he blinked as he heard a muffled sound from somewhere nearby. "Hey, did you just hear something?"

He dropped the apples and went around the trees, looking for the source of the noise. The Scarecrow and Winged Kuriboh joined him and together they searched high and low for the sound, which grew louder by the seconds. They all stopped in front of a big bush, from which the noise came.

"Kuriii…" Kuriboh said and flapped his wings, making the leaves rustle. More muffled noise were heard.

"A talking bush?" Judai asked in disbelief, but then shrugged. "If a scarecrow can talk…"

He reached out and brushed away a few leaves, feeling something hard underneath them. He saw something shiny under all of the leaves and hurriedly brushed them away, revealing a man below the vegetation.

"Manjoume!" Judai gasped as he recognized him, but he looked slightly different. All of his clothes, his hair and even his skin had a strange, silver-like tone to them. He stood completely still, but his eyes shot back and forth between Judai and the Scarecrow. Another muffled sound was heard from him, and Judai frowned when he didn't understand. "What's that?"

"Oooj phaaan!" Manjoume said; his whole body trembling. "Ooj phaan!"

"What's he saying?" Judai asked the Scarecrow, who shrugged but then saw something on the ground.

"Look!" he said and pointed at a small can standing on the ground in front of Manjoume. "Is that an oil can?"

"Of course!" Judai smacked his forehead and bent down to get the oil can. He put some oil around Manjoume's mouth and in his face.

"Thank you!" Manjoume finally managed to say, but sounded incredibly sarcastic. "Now, if you don't mind, could you put some oil on my body so I can actually _move_?" Judai frowned at his tone but did as he said − putting oil by his shoulders, knees, elbows and everywhere else he could think of. "My hips." Manjoume growled. Judai blushed furiously but put some oil there too, shutting his eyes tight in embarrassment as he did.

"I'm not Manjoume, though." he said and stretched; his joints creaking and screeching in protest. "I'm the Tin Woodman. I was working out here, chopping wood, when it started raining. I couldn't reach the oil can fast enough and rusted right here on this very spot."

"Chopping wood?" Judai wondered, not saying anything about the Manjoume/Tin Woodsman problem. If he _thought_ he was the Tin-man, and Misawa _thought_ he was the Scarecrow, then _fine_. He gave the oil can to the Tin-man so he could fix himself up a bit.

"Yeah, that was my job. A couple of winters ago my master came along and took my axe away, but left me standing here in this Godforsaken forest."

"Wait, you're saying you've been standing here for _years_?"

"Yup. Time really flies when you've got nothing to do all day." he put some final oil around his neck before throwing away the can, not caring where it landed. "Besides, I don't have a heart, so I can't feel lonely."

"You don't have a heart? That's kind of sad." Judai said and looked worried, but the Tin-man didn't seem to care about that.

"Yeah, I know it _is_ but I don't feel sad about it, since I don't have a _heart_." he looked at Judai as if was an idiot, but then continued. "I would've liked to have a heart, though. I want to have a heart so I can give it to the person I love."

Judai had to bit his lip to keep himself from asking how he could love someone without having a heart, and instead said:

"Well, the Scarecrow and I are travelling to the Emerald City where the Wonderful Wizard of Oz resides. He'll help me get home and give a brain for the Scarecrow; maybe he can give you a heart?"

"Really? Do you think so?"

"I know he can! He _must_ be able to give me a brain, and give you a heart!" the Scarecrow shouted happily and took the Tin Woodman's hand. He jerked it back with a suspicious look on his face, but then shrugged.

"Well, I suppose it beats staying here for another decade." He walked onto the yellow brick road and looked down the path. "This way?" and when Judai nodded, he started walking without waiting for either of them, his joints still creaking in protest.

"Ah, I'm Judai Yuki by the way…!" Judai shouted and then he, the Scarecrow and Kuriboh ran after the Tin Woodman, into the forest.

* * *

**A/N:** Can you figure out who the Lion will be? And the Wicked Witch of the West? And he Wizard himself? :D


	4. The Lion

The forest was dense and dark, filled with sudden movements and weird noises. The air was moist and there were water dripping from the trees and plants, making the yellow brick road slippery, or at least the parts which weren't already overgrown with moss and fungus.

Judai, the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman wasn't exactly having troubles walking, but it did go a bit slower than before, giving them just enough time to become intimidated by the forest around them. They heard shrieks and growls from behind the bushes, rustling leaves and twigs that snapped, water dripping down the tree trunks and flapping from someone's wings.

The Scarecrow and Winged Kuriboh weren't humming anymore, mostly because the Tin-man had told them to shut it, but also because they all felt as if the tiniest sound could lure out something big and dangerous lurking in the shadows.

"Are you sure this is such a good idea, my young lad?" the Scarecrow whispered into Judai's ear after a while. Judai brushed away a few strands of hay which tickled him on his cheek. "Are you sure this is the right way?"

"What? It was you who said the Emerald City was this way!" Judai tried to whisper and scream at the same time. It came out as a muffled hiss which made Kuriboh look at him with a worried expression.

"Why, I would never say something like that! I don't have a brain, how could I possibly know where the Emerald City is?"

Judai stared at him, a nasty twitch starting to develop just below his left eye.

"Tell me you're joking?" he begged. Unfortunately, their conversation did not go unnoticed by the Tin Woodman, and he came over to them with a rather annoyed expression on his face.

"What are you two babbling on about? We should stay quiet; there's something hiding in these forests and _I don't like it_." he hissed.

"Well apparently, the Scarecrow here doesn't know if we're going the right way." Judai said in a hushed voice, but couldn't help but throw some sarcasm in there. The Tin-man stared at him in disbelief while the Scarecrow looked offended. "This is exactly what we needed − we're lost. All I wanted to do was get home! Is that too much to ask for…?"

"You'd probably be home by now if it wasn't for this hay-head here!" the Tin-man growled.

"Excuse me? You were the one who rushed straight off into the woods without waiting for us, my boy!" the Scarecrow replied, his voice growing louder.

Something moved deep within the bushes on one side of the road; twigs snapped and something growled viciously somewhere deep inside the shadows.

"Uh, guys…?" Judai said with a low, insecure voice. "There's something in the bushes…"

But the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman didn't hear him, they were both arguing in loud voices and waving their arms to reinforce the message they were trying to get along. The Tin-man complained that he obviously thought the Scarecrow and Judai had known where to go, while the Scarecrow defended himself by saying that he couldn't possibly know, since he had no brain.

They were suddenly interrupted as a big, shadowy figured jumped out of the bushes, roaring and waving its arms. Judai and the others shrieked and both the Scarecrow and Judai jumped up into the Tin-man's arms. Kuriboh hid behind them, trembling violently.

The figured seemed surprised Judai and the others had been so scared, and after they started screaming, the shadowy figured started shrieking too. The Scarecrow, the Tin-man and Judai screamed again, followed by another shriek from the shadowy figure.

They could've continued going on like that for quite some time, but the Tin Woodman managed to get loose from Judai and the other's grip, letting them fall down on the ground with a thump.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait!" he yelled and tried to get rid of Kuriboh, who was clinging on to his arm. "Why are _you_ shrieking?"

"B-but you scared me…!" the shadowy figure said, and now Judai finally managed to get a decent look on him. He was very short, but had enormous pale blue hair and a pair of cat-like ears which stuck up between the spikes of hair. A tail stuck out from underneath his coat, but it twitched nervously. He corrected his small glasses, and Judai finally recognized him.

"Shou! Why are you here? Why do you have a tail?"

The shadowy figure/Shou twitched from being yelled at and fiddled with the tip of his tail.

"I-I'm not Shou, I'm the L-Lion."

"You're a _lion_?"

"You call yourself a lion; you didn't even manage to scare us!" the Tin-man growled at the Lion, who started fiddling even more with his tail.

"I-I-I tried by b-best, but I'm n-not very g-g-good at it."

Judai glared at the Tin-man. He was being unnecessarily mean, plus he actually did get scared, even though he was too proud to admit it. Judai took a few steps forward and put his arm comforting around the Lion's shoulders. He jerked back a little at the body contact and looked scared, but Judai smiled compassionately towards him.

"Hey, don't worry." he said, feeling the need to comfort him just like he did around Shou. "I bet you're really good at scaring people, you just need some practice! Just like the Scarecrow needs some practice at being a scarecrow."

"That's right, my dear fellow!" the Scarecrow said and stood on the Lion's other side, patting his shoulder reassuringly. "And we're going to see the Wonderful Wizard of Oz! He'll give me the brain I need and the heart the Tin Woodman needs!"

"And he'll help me get home." Judai smiled. "He's very powerful, so he must be able to do that."

"Oh, he sounds like a scary p-person!" the Lion said with wide eyes.

"No, you see; people with power have to be kind. It's their responsibility."

"Like the Good Witch of the North!" the Scarecrow said happily.

"Like the Wicked Witch of the West?" the Tin Woodman added with a frown no his face, not looking their way. The Lion gulped and started fiddling violently with the tip of his tail, his glasses constantly gliding down the tip of his nose. He corrected them, but they just slid down again. Judai grabbed his hands to keep them from trembling.

"Don't worry; I destroyed the Wicked Witch of the West! He can't hurt you anymore."

"Oh, but my dear lad!" the Scarecrow exclaimed. "I believe you destroyed the Wicked Witch of the _East!_ The Wicked Witch of the West is still out there somewhere."

The Lion gave away a small 'miep' and actually tried to run off, but Judai kept him in place, holding his hands tight. He looked into the Lion's eyes and tried to project all of his calmness towards him.

"Don't worry. If you stay with us, nothing will happen."

The Lion calmed down a bit, but still shook a little.

"D-do you r-r-really think so?"

"I'm sure! Do you want to follow us to the Emerald City and meet the Wizard of Oz? Maybe he can give you some courage or something!"

"R-really?" the Lion said in awe. "C-can I really f-follow you to the W-wonderful W-wizard of O-O-Oz?

"Yeah, of course! We'd be happy to have you on our team!"

"Oh yeah, that's just what we need. A skittish lion, a scarecrow without a brain and a boy who's lost." the Tin Woodman said, his back turned towards them now and his arms crossed.

"Oh, shut up Manjou− I mean Tin-man! You're not much better yourself." Judai snapped. He let go of one of the Lion's hands, but gently dragged him forward. "Come on, let's go. I bet there's still a long way to go."

"O-okay." the Lion stuttered with a slight blush but followed Judai as he went on.

"We have to continue through this forest, we can't turn back. Even though this may be the wrong way we have to keep on going and never look back. Okay?" Judai said with sudden surety in his voice, and the rest of the gang nodded.

They continued down the yellow brick road, further into the dark and creepy forest, but their little gang had now increased by one. Judai, Winged Kuriboh, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and the Lion all travelled together on the yellow brick road, heading for the Emerald City and the Wizard of Oz.

* * *

**A/N:** B'awww, Anikishipping~

Gah, whatever. So what's next, my dear reviewers? ;)


	5. Dangers on the yellow brick road

**A/N:** I couldn't decide if this and the next part should be one or two chapters! But then I got lazy again and made it into two, mostly because I don't have time to write right now... Halloween is coming up and I'm busy as hell. Not that I'm complaining ;D I'm going trick or treating with a friend of mine and we're both 17. Yes, I'm old.

* * *

"Whoa, careful my dear lad!" the Scarecrow said and grabbed the back of Judai's Osiris Red jacket, pulling him back to safety.

For the last quarter or so they had been hearing a strange, roaring sound. It sounded almost like thunder, but it was constant ad kept growing louder and louder. They hadn't been able to figure what it was, or at least Judai hadn't. They other's had hardly tried; the Scarecrow kept blaming the fact that he didn't have a brain, the Tin Woodman didn't seem to care, and the Lion was convinced it was something scary.

Now they could all see what it was; a deep but not very wide cleft with a roaring fast river at the bottom, and nothing leading over it except a narrow and very rickety bridge. It was hardly a bridge, actually, more like a couple of planks laid across the chasm. The yellow brick road continued on the other side as if nothing had happened.

"Alright, well…" Judai said and gulped nervously. "We just have to keep on going, right?"

He took a careful step out on the bridge and immediately noticed it was extremely wet and slippery due to the humidity in the forest. Judai gulped again but continued, trying not to look down. Kuriboh flew close to him, looking at him worriedly but saying nothing.

The others were dead quiet, even the Tin-man watched Judai in silent dread.

"B-b-be careful, J-Judai!" the Lion shouted, desperately fiddling with the tip of tail.

"It's okay!" Judai said and took a final jump to the other side, landing safely on the yellow brick road again. "Look, I'm on the other side, it's perfectly safe!"

"Alright then. Well, there's no point standing around." the Scarecrow said and bravely took a step out on the rickety bridge, closely followed by the Tin Woodman and the Lion. They moved slowly but surely towards the other side, Judai cheering them on all the way.

After a couple of minutes, the Scarecrow and the Tin-man managed to get over, the Scarecrow giving Judai a high-five, but the Tin-man just continued walking like nothing happened. Then Judai turned his head and saw the Lion still standing there on the middle of the bridge, trembling violently.

"J-Judai…" he said shakily and sobbed. He knelt down on all four, his eyes wide and his breath fast and shallow. He sobbed again.

The sound tore at Judai's heart, making him grimace and take a step towards him.

"Come on, Lion. You can do it, I know you can!" Judai said and clenched his fists tight, wishing there was something else he could do to help his friend. "Don't you want to go to the Wonderful Wizard of Oz and get some courage?"

"J-Judai…" the Lion whimpered; his voice nothing but a whisper.

"Come on, Lion… I know you can do it!" Judai said and tool another step forward. The Scarecrow said something similar in the background, but neither Judai nor the Lion heard what he said. "Come on, Lion, just… just focus on me! That's right! Don't look down or back or to your sides, just focus on me!"

The Lion slowly lifted his head and looked at Judai, but his breath was still fast and tears were welling up in the corners of his eyes. Then he gulped and slowly but surely stood up, a bit wobbly, but never breaking eye contact with Judai, who dared to smile a little to cheer his newfound friend on. The Lion trembled, but took small, small steps over the bridge; holding out his arms to keep his balance.

He finally reached the other side and collapsed into Judai's arms. He caught the Lion, held him tight and comforted him as he cried into Judai's chest. Judai couldn't help but smile; the Lion had done it! He had conquered his fears and gotten to the other side safely, all on his own.

"Well done, my dear fellow." the Scarecrow said in a gentle voice and patted the Lion on his head.

"Yeah, you were brave." the Tin-man added and sounded honest, even though he seemed to have some problems actually getting the compliment out. Kuriboh gently brushed his claws through the Lion's spiky hair.

"Kuri, kuriii…"

"Nnng… Judai…" the Lion murmured, grasping Judai's jacked harder and nuzzling his chest.

"Uh, okay… come on, Lion." Judai said and tried not to blush. He stood up and dragged the Lion up on his feet in the process as well. "Now, let's continue. You still want that courage, right?" he smiled towards the Lion, who tentatively smiled back.

Judai took the lead yet again, but the Lion followed him closely, holding the edge of his jacket in one hand and his own tail in the other. The Tin Woodman went and sulked at the back of their gang when he couldn't walk in the front anymore, but the Scarecrow happily marched onwards, blabbering on about things no one really listened to, but he didn't seem to mind.

The forest seemed far less intimidating now, and even though it was getting darker, the trees weren't as close to each other as before. After a while, they could actually see the darkening sky between the leaves; stars lit up one by one as the night turned into day and the forest was filling up with the sounds of night. There were still rustling leaves and snapping twigs, but the sounds seemed softer now, and not so frightening; grasshoppers chirping deep within the shadows.

Just as the sun actually set Judai, the Scarecrow, the Tin-man and the Lion came out of the forest and out on a large field. On the other side of it, lighting up the entire horizon with its green light, was the Emerald City.

"Ah, it's beautiful!" Judai gasped and squinted with his eyes, trying to see all the details. There were high sceptres and towers, thick walls which protected the city and green searchlights moving across the sky. "Come on, let's go! We're so close now!"

Judai was about to run ahead when he suddenly stopped as he noticed something he hadn't seen before. To the left of the yellow brick road, just by the edge of the forest, stood a small house. It was a timber-frame house, with smoke rising from the chimney, welcoming lights in the windows and red flowers planted around the foundation of the house and in the flower boxes.

Judai bit his lip and frowned.

"Should we see who lives there?" he asked the others, who stood a bit behind him. "We're so close now… maybe it's just better if we continued ahead."

The Scarecrow shrugged happily, the Tin Woodman didn't even look his way and the Lion looked scared as usual and fumbled with his tail again. Judai gritted his teeth and felt curiosity pull him towards the house.

"Ah, what the hell…!" he said with a final sigh and went towards the house. The others stayed behind, not sure if they should follow him or not.

Just as Judai lifted his hand to knock on the door, it swung open, revealing a most familiar person.

* * *

**A/N:** *gasp* Cliffhanger! Who will it be, who will it be?

Oh the Anikishipping.

x'D


	6. The field of poppies  or not

Judai walked up to the beautiful little house and was just about to knock on the door when it opened, revealing another friend of his.

"Johan!" Judai gasped.

But it didn't look like the Johan Judai was used to; he didn't have his usual Northern Academy clothes, but instead a loose-fitting, dark red shirt which was open, leaving his chest completely bare, and a pair of tight black pants. He also had a red flower in his blue hair; it was the same type of flower which grew outside the house, but Judai couldn't quite remember what they were called.

He looked surprised at first, but then smiled.

"Ah… welcome in." he took a step to the side, inviting Judai to come in. Judai stepped inside and Johan closed the door, but Judai hardly noticed.

"Johan, is it really you?" Judai asked suspiciously after looking around in the small room. It was warm and comfortable, with a roaring fireplace, several sofas and armchairs in the same red fabric, and a small table with a tray filled with teacups and cookies. "Or do you call yourself something else…?" he referred to the Scarecrow, the Tin-man and the Lion, who still were Misawa, Manjoume and Shou in his opinion, even though they didn't want to admit it.

"My name isn't Johan." the other boy said, making Judai roll his eyes. "I'm Poppy."

Judai blinked.

"Poppy? As in…?" he pointed vaguely towards the flower in Johan's hair. "You know what? Fine, I don't even care anymore. My name is Judai Yuki but, uh … Do you need something as well? Do you want to follow me on my journey to the Wonderful Wizard of Oz?"

"All I want is right here." Poppy said in a low voice.

"Okay, well… good." Judai said. He was a bit confused but honestly just wanted to continue to the Emerald City now; he had suddenly gotten the feeling entering this house probably wasn't such a good idea. "Well, I'll just be leaving now then…" he tried to turn the doorknob, but he found the door to be locked. "Did you−"

But then he stopped with a gasp as a pair of arms wound their way around his waist and a warm body was pressed against his from behind. He felt the other boy's breath on his skin and his nose rubbing against his neck. A faint scent of flowers emanated from him − his clothes or skin or hair − Judai didn't know which.

"All I want is right here…" Poppy breathed into his ear and then gently licked his earlobe, sending chills down Judai's spine. Judai realized he had been holding his breath and let it out in a hiss.

"J-Johan…!" he managed to gasp and tried to wriggle free, which simply caused Poppy to hold him tighter.

"I told you… my name is Poppy." he said in a low voice and took another long, slow lick, over Judai's exposed neck this time. His hands caressed Judai's stomach, sneaking in under his shirt and up over his chest. He pinched a nipple not so gently, and Judai had to bite back a moan.

"Stop it!" Judai said and finally managed to spin around; his back slammed into the door and his face flustered. Poppy immediately closed in again, now having his hands on Judai's hips, pushing him into the door. He continued to caress Judai's body while Judai himself tried to push Poppy away, but he found that his strength was disappearing fast. Something was effecting him; he didn't know what − maybe the warmth in the room or the smell of poppies, or both − but it made him weaker by the second.

"Nngh… stop it…" Judai moaned as Poppy got even closer; he turned his head and kissed Judai's neck, sending jolts of pleasure through his body. Judai felt his eyes close by themselves, his body relaxing more and more.

This… really wasn't that bad. The warmth in the room and the smell of flowers made him relax, made him comfortably dizzy and most importantly; made him forget about his worries. He didn't know how it happened, but suddenly he became aware of his hands, which weren't trying to push Poppy away, but instead were wound around his neck and playing with his blue locks. He didn't mind though, it felt nice.

He continued playing with Poppy's hair, his eyes closed, enjoying the sensation of the other boy's lips and tongue against his sensitive neck − but then he suddenly had to stop when Poppy broke away. Judai opened his eyes questioningly only to find the bluenette looking at him with dark eyes filled with lust. Poppy leaned in again; his mouth slightly opened and his eyes half-lidded.

Judai slowly closed his eyes as well, but waited until the very last moment to close them fully; enjoying the sight of Poppy coming closer and closer. Soft lips touched his own for a split second and a sudden jolt of… _something_… shot through Judai's body, making his muscles immediately tense up again. Judai's eyes shot wide open. He violently pushed Poppy backwards, his chest heaving as if he'd run a mile and his eyes wide open in shock.

Poppy stumbled backwards and almost fell, but managed to grab on to the backrest of one of the armchairs. He looked at Judai with dark, almost pitch black eyes − but definitely not from lust anymore − and wiped the corner of his mouth.

Judai stared looked at him, still breathing abnormally fast. Poppy looked madder than anyone Judai had ever seen before, but underneath all of that he also looked incredibly sad and lonely. The sight of him tore at Judai's heart, and for a moment he almost regretted that he had been able to get loose, but then Poppy raised his hand and opened his mouth as if to say something.

Judai quickly tried to take a step backwards but the door was in his way. He raised his hand behind him and desperately fumbled for the doorknob, without ever breaking eye contact with Poppy. He found it and managed to turn it, somehow opening the previously locked door and practically falling outside.

A pair of strong arms caught him and Judai jerked back at the body contact, but then relaxed as he realized who it was, even though he was still breathing fast.

"My dear fellow…! What happened to you? You were gone for a really long time…!" the Scarecrow said and helped Judai stand up straight again. The Tin Woodman and the Lion, even Kuriboh, stood in a circle around him and they all looked worried.

The door closed behind Judai without as much as a sound.

"J-Judai, I d-d-didn't think you would c-come back!" the Lion said and grabbed on to Judai's arm with a tight grip, refusing to let go. "W-we tried to open the d-door, but it was l-l-locked!"

"I, uh… n-nothing happened. It − it was just…" Judai mumbled without meeting their eyes; his free hand went over his hair, his face and neck, as if to make sure he was still really himself. "W-we have to keep going. Yeah, that's right, to the Emerald City."

He managed to free himself from the Lion's grip and brushed past the Tin-man, walking back up on the yellow brick road again, heading for the Emerald City which glowed green in the distance. He could hear the other's worried voices behind him as they followed him, but he didn't hear exactly what they said.

Judai could still feel the faint scent of poppies in the air, and tears burned at the corners of his eyes without him even knowing why.

* * *

**A/N:** Don't **TELL** me you saw that coming! xD

Anywho, *inhales* I don't know if you figured it out and you probably did but I'm going to go ahead and tell you anyways, since I think I was being smart ^^ Okay, the reason Misawa is the Scarecrow is because of the whole Light of Destruction thing, you know, he just wanted to be noticed as a great duelist? Also he's smart, lol. Manjoume is the Tin Woodman who wants a heart because he wants _Asuka_'s heart. And Shou is, well... Shou ^^"


	7. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

**A/N:** Can you believe I've already written seven chapters? Me neither.

Has anyone seen the MadTV Alternate ending to Wizard of Oz? It's hilarious xD (Or at least in my weird sense of humor...) Let's see, if I go like this it should be okay... http : / www . youtube . com / watch ? v=6exm 2Hi28Xw Remove the spaces and you should get there easily :)

* * *

Judai's eyes were large and glistening as he and the others looked up at the walls of Emerald City, drinking in the incredible sight. The walls themselves had to be at least six feet thick and forty feet high, and just like the rest of the buildings in the city they were made in some strange rock which seemed to glow with a green light. On the top of the walls, guards patrolled back and forth and flags fluttered in the wind.

Even though it was late at night, the giant stone doors to the city were still open, and a few people were still roaming the streets, carrying everything from toys and food to bricks made in that special green rock.

Without a word to each other, Judai, the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, Lion and Winged Kuriboh entered the Emerald City together. They wandered aimlessly around the streets, taking in the hugeness of the place, the amazing architecture, strange smells and odd people. The people of the Emerald City looked like the humans Judai was used to, even though they all had black, long hair and green clothes. They looked at Judai and their little gang, whispering behinds their backs; sensing they weren't from around here.

After a while, an older man in long green robes and with white streaks in his black hair came up to Judai and the others, stopping them for a moment.

"Excuse me, strangers. You are not from around here, are you?"

"No, we're not. We came to see the Wonderful Wizard of Oz." Judai replied, and the others nodded. "We're hoping he can help us."

"Ah, I see! Well then, shall I take you to him?" the old man asked and seemed happy they wanted to visit the wizard.

"Yes, thank you! That would be really nice!" Judai smiled towards the old man, and they went off, following him through the streets. After nothing but minutes, they came to a large castle, obviously located in the middle of the entire city, and with dozens of guards standing outside. The castle was green, of course, and had high sceptres and towers and millions of tiny details with reliefs showing everything from flowers and people to… Duel Monsters? Judai squinted his eyes to be able to see, but didn't have enough time as the old man practically shoved them through the huge front doors.

"Go! The Wizard is already waiting for you. Just follow the corridor, and you should get there easily." the old man winked at them once before shutting the doors behind them. All of the sounds from the city were immediately cut off, and the only thing lighting up the corridor was green torches on each wall.

Judai jerked a little as a small hand snuck its way into his, but then relaxed.

"J-Judai, I'm scared…" the Lion whined.

"But we're so close now!" Judai said and turned to the rest of the gang. "We're so close to getting what we want!" he smiled encouragingly towards them, and they smiled back. Together, they walked down the incredibly long corridor, the Lion's trembling hand still in Judai's.

"Who's there?" a loud, intimidating voice said as they approached a door. It was closed, but the voice was clearly coming from the other side.

"Um, m-my name is Judai Yuki, and this is Kuriboh, the Lion, the Scarecrow and the Tin-man. We want the Wizard of Oz's help." Judai said, stuttering slightly, because now he was scared too. He couldn't help it; the voice was so mighty and yet familiar somehow.

"And what makes you think you deserve the help of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz?"

"Well, we travelled really long and we've been through so much and −" Judai gasped as the doors opened by themselves, cutting him off.

"You may enter." the voice said, and the Lion suddenly grasped Judai's hand even harder. Both the Tin-man and the Scarecrow moved closer to Judai as well, and Kuriboh tried to sneak in under Judai's jacket.

"W-w-we can s-still t-turn around. We d-d-don't have to g-go in t-there." the Lion stuttered.

"I have to agree, my lad." the Scarecrow said and spied into the room lying ahead, but it was completely dark. "We don't know what lies ahead."

"But we _have to!_" Judai begged, dragging the Lion with him. "And if we don't now, we'll never do it! I _have_ to get home!" he practically dragged and pushed the others into the room, and the doors shut behind them.

For a split second, it was completely dark, and Judai thought the quivering Lion was going to faint, but then the light flickered on; torches lighting up the huge room. It was quite plain, with tall pillars on each side of the room, green curtains, and a small staircase leading up to a large thrown.

On that thrown sat a − man? − with reddish brown skin, black and orange scales on parts of his body, and black spikes sticking up on his shoulders and elbows. He had massive, bat-like wings and hair in two colors − the left side was dark blue while the right was white. His eyes were two different colors as well; the left was green and the right orange. In the middle of his forehead, he had a wide open, third eye.

"Yubel!" Judai gasped. The sight of him shocked him so much he didn't even know if he should be scared or relieved. He had thought Yubel had become a part of him − since when did he have his own body? "You're the wizard?"

"I am the Wonderful Wizard of Oz." the person sitting on the thrown said and swept out with his hand, as if to show his own magnificence. "What brings you here?"

"W-well, I wanted to…" Judai mumbled, completely thrown off. But then he managed to get a grip of himself and stood up straight. "I'm Judai Yuki and I need some help getting home. This is the Scarecrow and he −"

"Well, surely he can speak for himself?" the Wizard rudely interrupted Judai, holding up a hand to silence him. Then he gave a sign to the Scarecrow instead, signalling him to speak.

"Yes well, as he was saying…" the Scarecrow said and took off his hat, grasping it tightly as he spoke. "I am the Scarecrow and I would like to have a brain!"

"Yeah whatever, I'm the Tin Woodsman and I need a heart." the Tin-man said and didn't even look at the Wizard when he spoke.

"And you?" Oz wondered after a moment of silence, turning towards the Lion. The Lion mieped and tried to hide behind Judai, grabbing onto the edge of Judai's jacket and trembling violently. He had tears at the corners of his eyes again, but not a word came over his moving lips.

"Your honour, sir, this is the Lion." Judai said and wound his arms around his little friend, allowing the Lion to hide his face into his chest. "He would like some courage."

"Hmpf, I see." the Wizard said and leaned back into his thrown, looking at the gang with half-lidded eyes. "Alright then."

"You'll do it? You'll help me get home and give the others what they want?" Judai asked; hope filling up his heart and making it flutter. The Lion wriggled free from his grip and looked up at the Wizard in awe.

"R-r-really?" he wondered, his eyes wide and still filled with tears.

The Wizard of Oz smiled compassionately toward the little Lion but then turned to Judai yet again. His voice changed as he spoke; become more high-pitched and feminine.

"I will help you on one condition, and one condition only. The Wicked Witch of the West rules over Winkie Country with great terror and might, and you must kill him. If you do so, I will help you get home and give your friends what they desire."

* * *

**A/N:** The next chapter is super-sad ;_; I don't know what happened! It just sort of... happened.


	8. Kidnapped

**A/N:** I'm so bored! And restless! I hate it!

* * *

Judai was unusually silent as he and the others walked out of the Emerald City after their meeting with the Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It was the following morning − the old man who had helped them had also let them stay in his house over the night − and the sun slowly crept over the blue mountains which were closer now than before.

The Lion's hand snuck itself into Judai's as they walked, but he hardly noticed. He was lost in thoughts, and had been all night. When the others had been fast asleep, he had been up, sitting in the window and looking out over the green city. He couldn't stop thinking about the Wizard's words.

The Wizard had told him to kill the Wicked Witch of the West, and then he could go home and all of his new-found friends would get what they wanted as well. But… was that okay? Was it okay to kill someone in order to obtain something you wanted? True, the Wicked Witch was, obviously, wicked and definitely evil, but it still felt wrong. Truth was he had already killed another witch; the Wicked Witch of the East, but that was an accident! It wasn't his fault the Osiris Red dorm had landed right on top of him…

Judai sighed, which the Lion noticed.

"What's w-wrong?" he wondered, looking up at Judai who couldn't help but smile. The Lion's stuttering had gotten better since they visited the Wizard. It was as if the promise of courage made him more courageous.

"Nothing, I…" he closed his eyes for a second; he couldn't lie. "Is it okay to kill someone in order to get what you want?"

"Surely, if the person in question is wicked it is justified?" the Scarecrow pondered. "And we all know the Wicked Witch of the West is _wicked_. He rules over Winkie Country just like the Wicked Witch of the East ruled over the Munchkins."

"I say it's okay." the Tin-man said bitterly, still walking at the front of the gang with his nose held up high and his arms crossed.

"Nobody cares what you think." Judai snapped but immediately regretted what he said. "… Sorry, I didn't mean that."

"Of course you didn't." the Tin Woodman muttered and kicked away a stone with a loud _clonk_, not from the stone but from his foot.

"Judai…" the Lion said and tugged at Judai's hand, pleading for attention. "I w-want my courage. I really do."

"I know… I know."

"We could kill him for you?" the Scarecrow suggested.

"No!" Judai immediately shouted and stopped, twirling around to look at the others. "I'd never let you do that!" The whole thing was starting to give him horrible memories from the other dimension and the pain he'd felt back then… but then he saw the others' terrified expressions and softened again. "I'm sorry. I just don't want you guys to get hurt."

"We won't, my dear lad. We won't." the Scarecrow said reassuringly and patted him on his shoulder, nudging him to go on.

They continued on their path, which weren't yellow anymore. It was a simple dirt path, which had lead out of the Emerald City from the opposite side of the one they had entered. This path lead to the mountains, which all seemed a lot more harsh and unfriendly as they got closer. It was colder now too; chilly winds and a thick fog crept down from the high rocks and hid the sun, making Judai pull his jacket tighter around himself and the Lion fiddle with the tip of his tail in anxiety.

Suddenly, they heard a muffled shriek far off in the distance. The all stopped dead, standing completely still and almost not daring to even breathe. After mere seconds, the scream was heard again, much closer this time.

Three shadowy figures swept down from the sky and flew close to the little gang's heads, making them duck and put their arms up for protection. When Judai dared to remove his arms from his face and glance upwards he immediately recognized the three figures; they were Duel Monsters, and Destiny Heroes. The first one seemed to be Diskguy, with his pale blue skin and huge disks sticking out from his back like wings. The second was Doomguy with a military styled look, green skin and vicious red eyes, and the third was no other than Bloo-D, his huge wings, claws and tail posed for battle.

Diskguy swept forward and attacked the person closest to him, which happened to be the Scarecrow. Pieces of hay flew as the Diskguy lowered his disks and cut right into the Scarecrow's arm. The Scarecrow gave up a shout, but mostly from surprise; he couldn't feel pain. Then the Diskguy grabbed the Scarecrow by his waist and pulled him high up in the air, waiting for his comrades to finish up.

"Judai!" the Scarecrow yelled, terrified. His hat fell off his head and slowly floated down to the ground, where Judai caught it.

"Scarecrow!" Judai screamed back, as terrified as his friend. But then he twirled around as he heard several loud clonking noises; the Tin Woodman was being attacked by Doomguy.

"What are you doing, you…!" the Tin-man shouted, waving his arms around trying to protect himself. He gave up a surprised yell as Doomguy sunk its claws deep into his arm; he wasn't wounded, but the metal his arm consisted of was severely buckled. "J-Judai…!" the Tin-man gasped as the Doomguy lifted him up in the air.

"No…" Judai whispered and turned around to protect his smallest friend, only to find he was already gone. Judai snapped his head up and saw the Lion dangling from Bloo-D's claws, his eyes wide open in shock and tears streaming down his face. "NO!" Judai screamed at the top of his lungs and defiantly took a step forward, but the Destiny Heroes were far out of his reach.

A single tear fell from the Lion's face and landed on Judai's cheek, running down it before dripping off his chin; and then the D-Heroes were gone, along with their pray.

Judai dropped down to his knees, his faces still turned upwards and with the Scarecrow's hat in a tight grip. Winged Kuriboh came flying close to him and nuzzled his shoulder, whining compassionately. Judai looked down on him without actually seeing him, his eyes strangely dimmed. Then he slowly closed his eyes, his entire body relaxed, and he slumped forward, landing on the dirt path face down with a soft thud.

* * *

It started raining. Big, heavy raindrops landed on Judai's chin, making his eyes flutter and then finally open fully. He sat up with a start, receiving a surprised chirp from Kuriboh.

Judai gasped when he remembered what had happened and after giving Kuriboh a quick glance examined the whole scene around him with a single look.

He was all alone.

There were some hay lying close to him, and what appeared to be a couple of screws and bolts, but other than that − nothing. He looked down to find that he was still holding onto the Scarecrow's hat in an almost painful grip. He tried to loosen his grip a bit but found that it was hard − his fingers were stiff with cold. Judai caught himself wondering how long he had been lying there. It couldn't have been _that_ long; it was still daylight.

He tried to stand up but both his legs were asleep; he had to lean against a tall rock to even be able to stand up straight. Kuriboh circled around him the entire time, letting out concerned noises.

"Oh, partner…" Judai murmured and rested his forehead in his hand, feeling a head ache building up in there. "What am I supposed to do now? Where did all my friends go, where −"

He choked and went quiet, desperately trying to stop the tears which threatened to overwhelm him.

"What should I do…?" he mumbled and wiped his eyes on the sleeve of his jacket. When he pulled his arm back he managed to blink and actually focus on it; realizing something. This wasn't his ordinary Duel Academy jacket − this was the jacket he'd gotten from The Good Witch of the North back when he'd just started his journey. Looking at it made him remember why he'd gone to the Wizard of Oz in the first place; in order to get home.

But this wasn't all just about that anymore. He'd made new friends in this weird place and he couldn't just ignore them and their wishes. He had to help them.

Judai sniffled a last time and squeezed the Scarecrow's hat tightly before walking down the dirt path, deeper into the mountains − hopefully to the place where the Destiny Heroes had taken his friends.

"Come on, partner." Judai said with a voice still a little shaky from tears. "I have to save my friends."

* * *

**A/N:** *sniffle*


	9. The Wicked Witch of the West

**A/N:** Am I getting worse at updating? It sure feels like it. I hate to make excuses but I really have personal reasons this time... I usually get a bit depressed when it gets all cold and dark outside + a bajillion other reasons :(

On the plus side, the chapter is slightly longer than usual!

* * *

Judai was all alone and he was hungry, and on top of that it was starting to get darker and colder by the minute. He had eaten the small provisions he'd gotten from the old man they had been staying with over night, but that was nothing but a small loaf of bread and some fruits, and it was several hours ago.

He wished he hadn't passed out like that in the rain − it was pointless wishing of course, but his clothes were still wet and they didn't seem to want to dry anytime soon. Winged Kuriboh was constantly trying to keep his spirit up, chirping happily and flying around him. Once, he disappeared for a while and came back carrying some berries which tasted bitter. Judai smiled towards his little friend, but that smile quickly faded.

When it started to feel as if he was actually going to faint, Judai rounded a huge rock and gasped at the sight which met his eyes.

It was an enormous castle, with high towers, a bascule bridge and a moat. It was brightly lit with searchlights and spotlights, and Judai wondered how he couldn't have seen the light emanating from it earlier. But then again, he was on the brink of fainting and his eye vision was annoyingly dimmed. He did see some strange shadows flying around the roof of the castle, but didn't get any time to think about it until the alarms went off.

Suddenly, all the searchlights were aimed towards him, blinding him completely. Judai raised his arms to protect his eyes from the bright light but didn't get any time to do anything else, because something hit him hard in the back of his head and the world went black.

* * *

"Looking for this?" a familiar voice rang through the blackness.

Judai's eyes fluttered open and something red swept by his sight before it disappeared again. He groaned and closed his eyes again; he had a massive head ache. He tried to rub his forehead but found that something was keeping his arms back. When Judai looked to his side he saw that Bloo-D was holding his arms in a tight grip, preventing him from moving but at the same time holding him up; because Judai's legs were weak and couldn't support his weight. He also saw Kuriboh being held in a tight grip by Doomguy, whining the whole time.

Judai forced himself to stand up straight anyway and lifted defiantly his head. He should have been prepared by now, or at least used to it, but he couldn't help but gasp when he saw who the Wicked Witch of the West was.

He was standing in front of Judai with a familiar superior smirk on his face; his hair shone silver in the dark room but his incredibly blue eyes were even brighter. He was wearing a long white robe, and was holding Judai's red jacket.

"Edo…" Judai said, something between a gasp and a growl.

"Release him." the Wicked Witch of the West said with a nod to Bloo-D, who let go of Judai. He struggled a bit to keep his balance but managed to grab onto something and stood up straight. Then he looked down and saw it was actually the edge of a well − a well deep inside the castle. He couldn't see the bottom, it was just a black pitch, but you could hear the clucking of the water deep down.

"Now, do you feel like telling me how you came across this?" the Wicked Witch waved the red jacket carelessly around.

"I got it from the Good Witch of the North." Judai answered truthfully, seeing no point in lying, until…

"And where might she have gotten it?"

"W-well, I think she…" Judai stalled, definitely not meeting the Witch's eyes. "I-I think she… took it from the Wicked Witch of the East when he… died."

The Wicked Witch of the West's face went pale in the dark room − matching his bright hair. Judai could've sworn he saw tears at the corner of his eyes but before he could take a closer look the Witch turned around. He simply stood there for several moments − watching the moon through the large window.

Then Judai's eyes widened as he heard a loud ripping noise.

The Witch held up his hand and showed Judai the sleeve of the red jacket − it had been violently torn off and didn't even look as red anymore.

"Well, if the Wicked Witch of the East is dead I suppose he doesn't need his jacket?" the West Witch said, and even though Judai couldn't see his face he heard he was smiling. "He… doesn't… need… his _jacket!_" and for every word, the Witch tore off another part; the other sleeve, the collar, the buttons, the cuffs…

Judai watched in terror as his jacket was ripped apart piece by piece and suddenly felt an anger consume him − and anger he hadn't felt since Johan had been left behind in the other dimension.

Blind with rage, Judai let out a roar and grabbed the thing closest to him and threw it towards the Wicked Witch of the West. It was a bucket of water from the well, and it simply bounced off the back of the Witch's head with a painful thud − but the water spilled out over him and soaked him completely. He spun around, but seemed to realize something before he got a chance to attack Judai

"I'm melting!" the Wicked Witch yelled, dropped the pieces of the jacket and grabbed his own head in terror. "I'm melting…!" he threw his head back and forth but suddenly opened his eyes again and looked at his own hands. "Wait… no I'm not."

Judai blinked in confusion but decided it didn't matter − he was still mad. He dashed for the Wicked Witch of the West − and briefly felt Bloo-D reaching out its claws to catch him − and seized the front of his robe. The Witch looked surprised but Judai didn't give him any time to react and pulled him forward and then shoved him − making the Witch fall head first deep down into the well.

His scream echoed between the walls and as Judai realized what he'd done, he rushed to the edge of the well and looked down. There was a small, pale spot in the middle of the blackness, but then it was gone too, along with a splash. Judai reached out his hand as if to catch him, but of course it was in vain.

He quickly turned around when he heard a faint 'whoosh' behind him and saw Bloo-D disappear along with the other D-Heroes. Instead, dozens of people flooded the room, and Judai recognized all of them − they were Duel Academy students, and even though he didn't know everyone's name he definitely _knew_ them − even though they all were wearing Society of Light uniforms.

"Oh Great and Powerful Judai Yuki!" one of them said and took a step forward. He had short black hair and a round face. "We are the Winkies and we wish to thank you for freeing us from the Wicked Witch of the West!"

"And as a token of our appreciation we have freed you friends and fixed them up a bit!" another one finished, and as he spoke, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and the Lion came walking from another room, all three looking perfectly fine.

"Judai!" the Lion shouted and threw himself around Judai's waist, sobbing into his chest.

"Lion…" Judai held him tight, buried his nose in the Lion's hair and drew in a long breath before looking up at his other friends. The Scarecrow smiled merrily towards him. "Scarecrow… I've got your hat."

Judai drew it out from one of his pocket and pressed it down on the Scarecrow's head, smiling.

"Oh, thank you my dear lad! I thought I'd lost it!"

Then Judai turned to the Tin-man and found that the Winkies had gathered around him, admiring him from every angle. The Tin-man looked flattered but tried to hide it; he stood with his nose high up and his arms crossed, but with a faint blush on his cheeks.

"Oh Great and Powerful Judai Yuki", one of the Winkies said to gain Judai's attention. "We have here, the Golden Duel Disk!" he pulled out a duel disk which seemed to be made out of solid gold, but when Judai took it, it was surprisingly light. "The Wicked Witch of the West used this Duel Disk to enslave the D-Heroes and use them for his own gain."

Judai touched one of the cards lying in its slot, and Bloo-D appeared before them again. The Winkies shrieked and tried to run off, but Bloo-D only stood there, watching Judai and waiting for an order.

"Um, do you think you and the other D-Heroes could carry us back to the Emerald City?" Judai asked and tried to sound polite. Bloo-D gave him a small nod and Judai smiled towards his friends.

"Judai Yuki." the first Winkie said and Judai turned towards him.

He gasped.

The Winkie was holding his red jacket − the one he'd gotten from the Good Witch of the North − and it was completely sewn back together. It almost seemed to glow red in the darkly lit room, as if it was happy it was whole again too.

Judai took it from the Winkie − his hands trembling slightly − and tried it on. It fit perfectly, just like it always had.

* * *

**A/N:** OF COURSE the witch is Edo! If the Wicked Witch of the East was Saiou (woops xD) and the 'flying monkeys' were D-Heros, who else would it be? ;)


	10. A brain, a heart and some courage

Judai, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and the Lion arrived at the Emerald City at dawn, carried by Bloo-D and the rest of the D-Heroes. Judai held Kuriboh in his arms since he couldn't fly as fast as the other Duel Monsters. The whole city saw them coming but they mostly saw the Destiny Heroes and became terrified, ran around the streets and tried to hide.

They landed on the plaza in front of the green castle and yet again the D-Heroes simply stood there, waiting for orders. Judai looked around − there was no one there − and then gave the Golden Duel Disk to Bloo-D.

"I think you guys should have this. Now no one can decide what you should do except for yourself."

Bloo-D nodded towards him and gave him a small smile before he and the other Destiny Heroes flew away, Judai and the others waving them off.

Then they started walking towards the castle, Judai taking the lead again. He threw open the huge doors and together they started walking down the long corridor lit by green lanterns. The door to the Wizard's room was open, and he sat on his thrown as usual.

"Judai Yuki…" he said in his feminine voice. "Rumour says you've killed the Wicked Witch of the West. Is this true?"

"Yes, it is." Judai replied, he stood with his feet wide apart, bracing himself. "But I didn't like doing it. In fact, I hated it, so you better give us what we want or I'm gonna…" he trailed off, his fists clenched and his teeth gritted. He was getting so sick and tired of this; this whole world and the people living in it. He hated that his friends had been hurt and he hated that he had to kill the Witch.

He couldn't even tell what was reality anymore – had he killed the Wicked Witch or Edo? Were these people around him the Lion, the Tin-man and the Scarecrow, or Shou, Manjoume and Misawa? Was this Yubel or the Wonderful Wizard of Oz? That man with the flower in his hair… was that Poppy or Johan?

"Very well, you shall have what you wished for." the Wizard said and his voice changed from feminine to masculine. He stood up from his thrown and without even a flap of his wings, he floated down to stand in front of the little gang. "First… the Scarecrow."

The Wonderful Wizard signalled to the Scarecrow to bow down and then lifted off his hat, revealing a hole at the top of his head Judai never noticed before. Hay was sticking out of it, but the Wizard removed some of it and poured in some bran mixed with a lot of needles and pins before putting his hat on again.

"From now on, you'll be a smart and wise man, for I have given you a lot of bran-new brains."

The Scarecrow bowed deeply and thanked the Wizard.

"How do you feel?" Judai had to ask.

"Very smart in fact, my young fellow!"

"And what about all the needles sticking out of your head?" the Tin-man muttered, obviously impatient.

"They m-must be a sign he's s-s-sharp." the Lion stuttered and looked at the Scarecrow in awe.

"And now, the Tin Woodman." the Wizard said and turned to the Tin-man. The Wizard reached out and opened a panel on the Tin-man's chest. Inside of him it was full of cables, blinking lights and screws, which the Wizard moved a bit before inserting a heart sown in silk and stuffed with saw-dust. He shut the panel again and accepted the Tin Woodman's thanks.

"Do you feel anything?" Judai wondered curiously.

"I-I feel… I feel like I'm in love!" the Tin-man said, his eyes wide. Then he grabbed the Scarecrow and gave his a kiss on the cheek, gave the Lion a tight hug and a kiss on the nose, and Judai received a kiss full on the lips.

Judai blushed furiously and started stutter something out, but the Wizard of Oz interrupted him, holding up a hand.

"Thirdly, the little Lion." he said and turned to the Lion, who began to stutter and stammer and fiddle with the tip of his tail uncontrollably in front of this mighty and powerful wizard. But the Wizard put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down and gave him a small, glass bottle filled with some sort of fluid.

"W-w-what's t-this?" the Lion dared to ask.

"If it was inside you – it would be courage." the Wizard replied. "Courage only exists inside you, so this cannot be called courage until you have swallowed it."

As soon as the Lion heard this, he opened the bottle and drank all of it – even though you could tell he didn't think it tasted good.

"How do you feel now?"

"Full of courage!" the Lion said with a bright smile.

"You're not stuttering anymore!" Judai said, amazed, and hugged his friend. The Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman joined in the hug, and even Kuriboh nuzzled the Lion's head. Judai smiled towards his friends and then turned to the Wizard of Oz.

"Now… will you help me get home?" he asked, completely serious now.

"I shall help you get home when−" the Wonderful Wizard began but was suddenly interrupted by a loud thud and a crash. They all snapped their heads towards the left and saw green curtain lying on the floor with a lump underneath it which looked a suspiciously lot like Winged Kuriboh. Where the curtain had been hanging, there was now an opening to a small room. Inside that room stood a small, very familiar boy.

His eyes were bright green, his hair dark blue, his skin tanned and his clothes big and tattered – it was a young, human Yubel.

* * *

**A/N:** Now do you see why I chose to make the Wizard male? In the english version, Yubel is a female, but in the japanese it's a male. At least I think it is O_o Is there a difference between different fansubs? The japanese episodes I watched said Yubel was a boy in his previous life... gah, I'm confused.

Also, I have a new poll on my page and some votes would be neat C:


	11. Yubel

**A/N:** Yess, sadly, the story is ending soon~! BUT, I don't know the original story as well as I thought I did (I'm not American, you know) and therefore my version is slightly different towards the ending. Woops.

* * *

Winged Kuriboh pulled down one of the green curtains hanging from the wall and revealed a young boy standing behind it. His eyes were bright green, his hair dark blue, his skin tanned and his clothes big and tattered – it was a young, human Yubel.

"Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!" the young boy and the Wonderful Wizard of Oz said at the same time; the boy's voice much more high-pitched a young than the Wizard's.

"You!" Judai said with a gasp of recognition and pointed towards the boy.

"Eh, don't care about him… he's j-just a, um…" the boy and the Wizard said, again at the same time. The boy looked nervous, but the Wizard looked as indifferent as always; and that stuttering voice to that stern face simply looked so wrong.

Judai took a closer look and saw the young boy had a duel disk attached to his arm, with a single card in one slot; Yubel.

"Begone, mere mortals!" the boy tried again and fiddled with his duel disk, but the damage was already done.

"Oh knock it off, we know you're a fraud now." the Tin-man said with crossed arms.

The young boy pouted but touched the card in his duel disk, making the Wonderful Wizard of Oz disappear with a small sound. Kuriboh managed to make his way out from underneath the curtain and flew over to Judai, his fur ruffled and his brow furrowed.

"Are you really…? I mean, are you…?" Judai tentatively wondered and took a step closer to the boy. "What's your name?"

"I'm Yubel." the boy said and looked sad. "I got here a long time ago and people thought I was a wizard, so I just…" he shrugged, but then continued. "They started asking me for advice and what was I supposed to do? I couldn't just refuse to help them, could I?"

"But you've been deceiving people! That's worse than not helping them at all!" Judai burst out and took yet another step towards Yubel. He looked intimidated but quickly gathered courage again. He walked up to Judai and the little gang, looking at each of them as he spoke.

"Oh, I've been deceiving people? Scarecrow, don't you feel smarter now than before?" he asked, turned towards the Scarecrow, who looked surprised but answered anyway.

"Well yes, I suppose you could say−" But Yubel wouldn't let him continue and spun around to face the Tin Woodman instead.

"And you said you felt like you were in love, right? And the Lion, you don't stutter anymore! Surely you feel braver?"

"I do!" the Lion said out loud, surprising everyone with his confident voice.

"See?" Yubel said, turned towards Judai. "I _have_ been helping people, even though it's just by showing them something they've had all along!"

Judai blinked and then looked away, realizing Yubel was right. He had helped Judai's friends by simply giving them worthless objects, telling them they were filled with magic. It was lying – or it was just a trick, but it worked.

"… Sorry." he said. "But can you still help me home?"

Yubel bit his lip and looked away too.

"I don't know… I got here in a hot air-balloon, I still have it hidden in a room here in the castle but I think it's broken in some way, it won't work."

"You… you got here in a _hot air-balloon_? Does that mean I'm still on… on earth?"

"Where else would you be?" Judai opened his mouth to answer but realized he didn't have one, and closed his mouth again. "I could show you where I've hidden the balloon, maybe we can make it work. I want to go home too." he added, his voice small.

Then he showed them to a door behind the curtain where he had been standing. It led to a corridor with hundreds of doors and hundreds of new hallways. Yubel seemed to know his way around and never hesitated once before entering a new door. There were people around, guards and servants, quietly moving around the corridors. As Yubel approached they all took a step to the side and let him, Judai and the others pass by.

"I've told them, as Oz, that Yubel is an important person to me and that he should be treated very well. That way I can live here in the castle and take a break from being the Wizard if I want to."

Judai nodded to show his understanding. He was beginning to feel sympathy for the young boy; Yubel wanted to go home just like he did. He was also a young boy alone in a strange and dangerous country. On second thought, the Munchkins and the Good Witch of the North had thought _he_ was some sort of miracle, just like the people of Emerald City thought of the Wizard of Oz.

They came to a small room in the far end of the castle and Yubel showed them what looked like a big basket with a huge green fabric draped over it. On the side of the basket, near the edge, was the name of the balloon painted in dark green letters; _The Comet._ Yubel explained that no matter how many times he tried to fill up the balloon with hot air, it wouldn't fill up completely. They figured out there had to be a hole in the fabric somewhere, managed to find it − that took a while − and repaired it.

Then they asked the servants to help them drag it out on the big plaza in front of the castle and as they made it ready, people were starting to show up. They looked at the balloon and whispered amongst themselves as Yubel and Judai filled up the balloon with hot air, getting it ready for departure.

"People of the Emerald City!" Yubel yelled when they were ready. He and Judai stood in the balloon, and the Lion, the Scarecrow and the Tin-man stood close to it, watching them silently. The people on the plaza fell silent. "I have a confession to make." Yubel continued. "I am the Wonderful Wizard of Oz."

Gasps and whispers went through the crowd, and Judai leaned towards Yubel, whispering to him:

"Show them."

Yubel gave him a small nod and touched the Yubel-card in its slot on the duel disk he was still wearing. The Wizard of Oz appeared before them, making the people of the Emerald City gasp and cower in fright.

"It's true. I am the Wizard of Oz." both Yubel and the Wizard said at the same time. "I wish to apologize for deceiving you all for such a long time, and it is finally time for me to go home. I'm leaving the position of mayor to the Scarecrow here, who will rule with great justice and smartness."

The Wizard disappeared when Yubel turned to the Scarecrow, who looked surprised but took off his hat so Yubel could dub him using the duel disk. The Scarecrow stood up straight and bowed as the crowd cheered and applauded, apparently pleased with their new ruler.

"Now, Judai… are you ready?" Yubel asked Judai.

Judai turned towards his friends and found that they were all looking glum; the Lion had tears at the corners of his eyes and the Tin-man looked crankier than usual. Judai couldn't help but smile.

"Don't look so sad… I'll never forget you guys. I'll never forget that you helped me. I'll never forget how smart, loving and brave you all are."

"Judai!" the Lion burst out and lounged himself towards Judai, hugging him over the edge of the balloon's basket. "We'll never forget you either!"

Judai freed himself from the crying Lion, waved goodbye to his friends and the people of the Emerald City and gave Yubel a sign it was time to take off. Yubel cut off the ropes connecting the hot air-balloon to the ground, and they were off.

But at that precise moment, Winged Kuriboh − flying close to Judai − saw an odd-looking cat in the crowd and decided to chase after it. With an annoyed sound, he flew down out of the basket and into the crowd, disappearing out of sight in mere seconds.

"Partner!" Judai shouted and did something very stupid; he climbed over the edge of the basket and dropped to the ground, landing painfully on the stone plaza close to the Tin-man and the others. Ignoring his injuries and the surprised shouts from his friends, he came to his feet and ran after Kuriboh into the crowd. He could constantly see the back of Kuriboh flying just a few feet in front of him, but he could never catch him.

Winged Kuriboh suddenly stopped, and Judai as well. He was breathing fast; his side, left hand and leg hurt like a thousand needles, but at least he had Kuriboh. He reached out and took him out of the air, holding him tight despite his attempts to get loose. Then Judai suddenly noticed the person standing in front of him.

The odd 'cat' was sitting on one of his shoulder – it's fur purple, ears big, eyes ruby and at the tip of its tail, it had a large, crystal ball in the same colour of its eyes. The person on the other hand had blue, spiky hair and emerald green eyes, a red shirt and a red flower in his hair.

"Hello Judai." Poppy said with a smirk.

* * *

**A/N:** GASP GASP GASP! heh ^^

Oh and guys... **I don't bloody bite.** You can be honest in that poll xD (come on, I know you want to...! Know you wanna...!)


	12. There's no place like home

Judai felt his stomach drop deep down to the ground somewhere and his cheeks go pink.

Poppy was standing in front of him, with a familiar smirk on his face and Ruby Carbuncle sitting on his shoulder.

"Hello Judai."

"P-Poppy." Judai said and couldn't help but stutter. He squeezed Winged Kuriboh tighter and gulped. Memories of that one night not long ago at all flooded his mind and made it hard to think. The faint smell of poppies emanating from Poppy hardly helped; Judai could almost feel his hands over his chest, his lips over his neck, jaw-line, lips…

Judai blushed even harder and tried to hide his face behind Kuriboh, who whined from being held so tight and tried to squirm free.

Poppy reached out and touched Judai's cheek with the tip of his fingers, just barely touching his skin. His playful smirk disappeared and instead he smiled sadly, making Judai's heart ache. Poppy rubbed Judai's cheek with his thumb and, almost unnoticeably, took a slow step forward.

Judai realized Poppy was a bit taller than him, but immediately decided it really didn't matter right now. He let go of Kuriboh (who gratefully flew away) and also took a step forward, standing very close to Poppy now and turning his head up slightly to be able to look him in the eyes. He felt a bit stupid just standing there with his arms hanging and lifted them, loosely placing them on Poppy's hips.

Poppy brought up his other hand as well and cupped Judai's cheek, turning his head up even more. Then he subtlety leaned forward and Judai felt his heart stop.

"Judai!"

Judai snapped out of it and twirled around when someone called his name. He saw the Tin-man, the Scarecrow and the Lion, all looking terrified and the later pointing towards the sky. Judai followed his hand and saw Yubel high up in the hot air-balloon, slowly drifting away.

"Judai!" Yubel yelled and looked scared as well. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine!" Judai shouted back and ignored the shooting pain in his side and leg. He turned around to face Poppy again, but he was gone, and so was Ruby. A faint smell of flowers was all that told him he hadn't just imagined it.

"Judai…!" Yubel said again. Judai ran up to the podium where his friends stood and watched Yubel slowly but surely fly away.

"Yubel! Please turn back! Please don't go without me!" Judai shouted, Kuriboh flying close to him, whining worriedly.

"I can't turn back, I don't know how it works! I'm so sorry! Bye!" Yubel shouted. He waved and continued to drift of into the distance, slowly growing smaller and smaller until he was nothing but a dot, and then he disappeared.

Judai simply stared after him. That was it; that had been his last chance of getting home and now he was stuck. He would never be able to come home again. Judai couldn't help it; he felt tears burning at the corner of his eyes as the Lion squeezed his hand.

"Now I'll never come home."

"You don't have to go home, Judai." the Lion said in a small voice.

"You can stay here if you want to, my fellow." the Scarecrow said and placed his hand on Judai's shoulder.

"We love you." the Tin-man added with sincerity in his voice.

Suddenly, a gasp went through the crowd still standing at the plaza. People screamed and pointed at the sky and when Judai looked up he saw a familiar sight; a huge ball of fire heading their way.

The fireball came closer and with a great 'WHOOOSH' it landed in front of the podium without harming anyone, even though the people got scared and ran away anyway. The flames disappeared and instead the Good Witch of the North appeared; her hair long and black, her dress red and eyes bright green.

"Greetings travellers." she said, her voice soft.

"Burst Lad− I mean, The Good Witch of the North!" Judai exclaimed and took a step forward. "Will you help me get home? Can you help me?"

"My dear boy, you've always had the power to go home. The Wicked Witch of the East's jacket has the power to carry one wherever he wishes to go."

Judai's eyes went wide.

"Really? Is it true?"

"It's true." she said with a nod and a smile. "Just zip and unzip the jacket three times and say 'There's no place like home, there's no place like home'."

"I can go home!" Judai said without believing it. "I can go home!" he jumped high in the air with a laughter, took the Lion's hands and danced around in a circle with him while laughing. "I can go ho−" but then he saw his friends' faces.

The Tin-man looked glum again, the Scarecrow was holding his hat in a tight grip, and the Lion had tears at the corners of his eyes and was fiddling with the tip of his tail again.

"We don't want you to go home." the Lion said, his voice nothing but a whisper. Judai let go of his hands and threw his arms around his neck instead, allowing the Lion to sob violently into his chest, squeezing his waist tight.

"We love you." the Tin-man repeated, tugging at Judai's arm.

"I'm so sorry." Judai whispered, tears welling up in his eyes now that he realized going home meant parting from his new-found friends. He pulled them all close in a group-hug, tears rolling down their cheeks.

"Stop crying, Tin-man, you'll rust again!" Judai said with a small chuckle mixed with a sob. "But… but what are you going to do now?" Judai asked worriedly and pulled away from them, meeting all of their eyes.

"I'll stay here, and try to be a good mayor." the Scarecrow answered.

"The Winkies have asked me to lead them now that the Wicked Witch of the West has died." the Tin Woodman revealed and tried not to look too pleased.

"And I'll go back to the Forest and reclaim it." the Lion said and looked determined, not even stuttering. "There are a lot of evil creatures living there who shouldn't be there."

"That's amazing! So you all have some place to be!"

"And so do you." the Good Witch of the North said with a soft smile, reminding Judai that he still had to go home. "Your true place is not here."

"Yes, that's right." Judai said and straightened up, wiping away his tears. "I'll leave now, and go home. I'll miss you." he added, turned towards his friends. "I love you all."

"We love you too." the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and the Lion said at the same time.

Judai smiled towards them one last time and then turned away, unable to look at them as he prepared to go home. Tears welled up his eyes again when he zipped up his red jacket for the first time and said:

"There's no place like home." Winged Kuriboh clung to his side as he did it again, and again. "There's no place like home. There's no place like home."

And at once, he felt a strong force pulling him upwards, lifting his feet of the ground, ruffling his hair and making his eyes fill up with tears again, but because of the wind rushing by him this time. Kuriboh tried his best to hang onto Judai's arm, desperately whining.

He saw the landscape fly by underneath him, the yellow brick road meandered over the fields and meadows, through the forest where he had met the Lion and the Tin-man, though the corncob field where he had met the Scarecrow. Judai saw the Munchkins in their village, trying to clean up after the demolished Osiris Red dorm. After the village he flew over high, cold mountains. The air was thin and it was hard to breathe for a while, but he had soon passed by them. Judai flew by an ocean where huge fishes jumped over the surface and fishermen in small boats tried to catch them, and then he came to a blazing hot desert which almost blinded him with light and heat.

As he flew over another ocean, this one more turquoise and warm and welcoming, he started feeling how the jacket slipped off his shoulders. Terrified, Judai noticed that the last time he zipped up the zipper, he hadn't done it completely and now the jacket was open, dangerously close to fall off. Judai tried to grab the edges and bring them together so he could close the jacket, but it was in vain.

Just as he saw an island with an enormous forest and a volcano close in quickly, the red jacket slipped off his body, Kuriboh lost his grip, and Judai came crashing down on the ground.

* * *

**A/N:** _GWABAH!_ Almost finished, my dear friends~

But, you know, if any of you should have a really good idea for a sequel/more chapters, I might write more ^^

**Tune in next time for the final (?) chapter!**


	13. Epilogue

**A/N:** OMG last chapter. Yes, last.

But fer ONCE I actually have a song you can listen to while reading it. Or any scenes with Poppy actually, I think it fits him. Or maybe that's just me. Well, it's called 'Ponderosa' by Tricky, it's like crack~

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Judai groaned and frowned but didn't open his eyes. Bright sunlight was hitting him in the face, making him feel warm even though he was lying in an awkward position. His left leg was bent under him and his left hand hurt too, as if he had used it to dampen a high fall. He had something hard pressed into his back and shifted slightly to get off it, but it wouldn't move.

He opened his eyes and was immediately blinded by the light shining in through the window. He moaned and sat up, shadowing his eyes with his hand and straightening out his leg.

Judai looked behind him and realized it was a piece of wood which had been pressed into his back, and it was only now he saw his dorm-room was in shreds. The desk and bed were broken, nothing but shards of wood and nails and, in the case of the bed, torn sheets and pillows. The curtains had fallen down and lay on the floor, the door hanging askew and sunlight shining in there as well.

"Oh sweet Osiris…" Judai murmured as he stood up; his head pounding painfully. He removed his hand from his head and looked at it − at least he wasn't bleeding.

"Judai!" a familiar voice yelled from outside. Shou came running through the door with Kenzan behind him, both looking very worried and Shou with tears at the corners of his eyes. "Big bro!" he shouted and lounged himself around Judai's waist.

Judai grunted and held his head − he had a painful head ache.

"Are you okay, Judai?" Kenzan asked as Shou sobbed into Judai's chest.

"I-I think I'm fine, but I…" Judai stuttered, trying to think clear.

Memories of what had happened hit him like a punch in the face; making him remember his jacket, the Emerald City, the Good Witch and the Wicked Witches, the Lion, the Scarecrow, the Tin-man, the Wizard, Poppy… And suddenly he remembered the jacket he'd gotten from the Northern Witch and his eyes went wide. Judai looked down and saw he wasn't wearing his jacket; instead it lay close to him on the floor. But he simply knew this wasn't the enchanted jacket which had belonged to the Wicked Witch of the East, but his usual, Osiris Red jacket.

"Judai!" another voice shouted from outside and a second later a most familiar person came bustling through the doorway; his hair blue, his eyes green and wide with worry, and nothing even remotely close to a flower in his hair. Johan knelt down next to Judai and practically pushed Shou away to be able to get close to Judai. "Are you okay?"

Johan saw Judai's shocked expression − he was simply staring at Johan − and started searching for wounds all over his body. "Are you hurt?" His hands roamed over Judai's skin − pushing back his clothes − and Judai had to bite back the moan which came with the touches, but was unable to stop himself from blushing. "Where are you injured?"

"I− ahhh!" Judai tried to speak but was interrupted by Johan hitting a soft spot right below his navel.

Johan must've realized what he'd done, because he suddenly blushed and quickly pulled back his hands, looking extremely guilty. He bit his lip and met Judai's eyes − they were both blushing and breathing just a tad faster than usual.

"I-I'm not injured. Badly." Judai managed to say, gulped and then continued, breaking eye contact with Johan. "What… what happened?"

"There was a storm, and the teachers told us to go to the main building, since it was safer there." Kenzan said and came closer. "We thought you went before we did, and when we got there and figured out you weren't there the teachers wouldn't let us go rescue you. The storm was too heavy."

"Oh…" Judai frowned. "How badly damaged is the dorm?"

"It's pretty messed up, but nothing we can't fix." Kenzan grinned.

"I'm so glad you're safe!" Shou said and tugged at Judai's sleeve to get his attention. He stood up and pulled Judai up on his feet as well. Kenzan helped support Judai and together they walked out of the room where they were met by Asuka, Fubuki and the rest, who all were relieved Judai was okay.

"Is everyone else okay too?" Judai wondered when people started to settle down again after making sure he wasn't injured.

"Yes, everyone is fine, only you were missing." Asuka replied. "I'm not sure where O'Brien went though, but he should be back soon."

Judai could barely wait for him to get back so he could tell them all about his… dream? Could you really call it that? He was fairly sure it had actually happened, but in his 'dream' he had been gone for almost three days, and here he had only been out for a night. Maybe time went faster in that other place he had been – if he _had_ been somewhere else.

It was messing with his head to the point where he almost couldn't handle it, and as soon as O'Brien got back from helping out a couple of injured students, Judai dragged them away a bit and sat down in the shadow of a great tree. The others sat in a circle around him, waiting for him to start speaking. In the background, some students, teachers and a couple of people from the maintenance crew started to clean up the pile of rubbish which was the Osiris dorm.

"Now, you won't believed what I… dreamed." there was hardly a pause between 'I' and 'dreamed', but it was there, and no one but Johan noticed. Judai continued. "I came to this really weird place, and you were there, and you, and you…" Judai pointed at Misawa, Manjoume and Shou, Jim, O'Brien and Kenzan.

They were quiet as he told them almost everything that had happened. _Almost_ – because he left out some of the more sad and horrible parts, not wanting to bother his friends with his nightmares, if you could call them that. Judai also left out the part with Poppy – he did it almost unconsciously, trying to forget that part himself. Not because he hadn't enjoyed it – because he had, even though he wouldn't admit it to himself – but because he would never tell his friends something that personal; maybe Shou, maybe later, but definitely not here and now.

Johan noticed it though, and when the others had finished laughing and asking about Judai's story and walked away, he came up to Judai and pulled him away a bit.

"There's something you're not telling." Johan said with a mischievous smile and was awarded with a stuttering and blushing Judai. Johan leaned against the tree, leaning in over Judai – who was shorter than him. "What is it?"

"I-it's nothing. It's not important!"

Johan tilted his head to one side and his smile disappeared.

"I'm really glad you're safe. You really got me worried there." he leaned closer and rested his forehead against Judai's, who blushed even harder but stood still and didn't say anything. Johan drew in a deep breath and then let it out again, closing his eyes.

"… You were in my dream too." Judai finally said. Johan opened his eyes again, but didn't say anything. "You… you called yourself 'Poppy', like the flower, and you, um…" he trailed off. "Y-you…"

"What?" Johan asked softly when Judai didn't say anything for a while, nor met his eyes. "What did I do?"

Judai's hands shot up and grabbed Johan's collar, pulling him down for a rough kiss right on the lips. Johan's eyes shot wide open but Judai desperately closed his, clinging on to the moment for dear life. Before Johan had a chance to recover, Judai pulled away again. His entire face was bright red now, tears were visible at the corners of his eyes and he had slapped his hand over his mouth.

"I-I'm sorry." Judai managed to whisper between his fingers.

Johan still looked surprised – his mouth and eyes were big 'o's, and if Judai hadn't been embarrassed to death, he probably would've laughed at his expression. But then Johan blinked it away, smiled and came closer again.

"Don't be." he said, his voice nothing more than a whisper. He brushed a few strands of hair away from Judai's eyes, cupped his cheek and turned his head up slightly so he could kiss him again, properly this time.

Judai melted in the tenderness of Johan's kiss, closing his eyes and smiling, for once feeling truly happy about his odd adventure.

**The End**

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**A/N:** Hrm yes, this is really the last chapter. Some of you wanted a lemon, but I'm not going to write one (this time!). The reason is - I can't quite take Judai and Johan seriously as a couple. I mean, they're really cute together and all that but I just can't imagine them having _sex_, lol. So no.

But I'm so glad you guys like this story! It was just a silly little idea at first and I'm shocked over how much the fanfiction community liked it, I mean, 60 reviews was something I couldn't even dream of when I first started, and that wasn't too long ago at all! Your reviews make me so happy, and even though I might not reply to all of them, of course I read them all! *huggles everyone she can reach*

And here's the promised pic of Poppy: http: / lonleysamurai . deviantart . com /art /Poppy - 187645758 Just remove the spaces and you'll get there!

Also, here's the trés smexy scene with Poppy and Judai: http : / lonleysamurai . deviantart . com / art / The-smell-of-poppies- 190390557

Take care! :)


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